Things you assumed and were astonished to find out you were completely wrong

[Cattery]

For example: The Elgin Marbles. Heard these mentioned from time to time over the years. Always pictured marbles; kids’ marbles. Then I heard they were something to do with Greece and I’ve always thought Elgin was there. Got it all completely wrong

That Knights in White Satin is actually Nights in White Satin.

I prefer my version ;)

For virtually 50 odd years, I thought octopus were orange - as all the kids story books show them as orange cheery looking things that wave at you with their tentacles… I was really shocked to find out that they are dull coloured and can be quite aggressive!

Look for films of them changing colour & texture. It will blow your mind! They're amazing creatures.

That penchant is not pronounced “pon-shont”

So many things.

There was never a police nessy in the Family Ness named Elliot Ness.

Jessica Fletcher and Sarah Jessica Parker are two separate people. There is no Sarah Jessica Parker

See also Culluden and Fluddon. There is no Fulluden.

The Lockerbie bomber was a Libyan guy named Al-Megrahi. Not, as thought, an Irish republican named Al McGarry.

Ru Paul's Drag Race is a competition for drag queens. Not, (as I thought after somehow conflating it with Priscilla Queen of the Desert) a long distance overland car race in which everyone must wear drag.

I thought for a long time that Hawaii was just off mainland North America.

I live in South Wales, I thought it was near me 😲😵‍💫

Bloody hell, now I have to tell everyone I told about the original - really convincing - article which said it was a little ice pick that I was wrong and it was a proper big one!

Thurrock is not in Yorkshire, but it should be with a name like that.

Until last week I thought the term was ‘riding rough shot’ instead of the correct ‘riding roughshod’ (i’m 41 😳)

I don't think that's right, I think the phrase IS "on tenterhooks" not "tenderhooks"

So did I.

Until quite recently I thought mac 'n cheese was a Mac burger with cheese and couldn't work out what the fuss was about and why it figured so often in tv series. Then I saw it as a ready meal in Aldi.

I'm glad you told me.

I don't know why I thought she was black but I had quite a debate about it with a friend and I couldn't work out why she was laughing at me.

My adult, very clever ds was convinced until recently that reindeer didn't exist. How we laughed.

and 'boots with the fur' is boots and a fur jacket, not furry boots!

How do you pronounce it?!

🤯

I knew there was a word pronounced "a-rye" for describing something that had gone wrong, but didn't equate it with the word "awry" until I was 16 and reading out loud "things went 'or-ree' " in Latin class... still cringing

Re: narwhals - did the news story about the chap who took a narwhal tusk off a wall not give anyone a clue that they were real?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-50870309

Also, it's moleskine, not moleskin, for the notebooks.

Not being nitpicky, just hoping to spread knowledge. This is a marvellous thread & I'm learning a lot! Reading back I find nearside/offside started as a description of an animal, so my using it at the vet was perfect.

It is, although the "t" is silent, as it's a French word? 🤷‍♀️

dictionary.cambridge.org/pronunciation/english/penchant

It is pronounced in the French fashion, the pen-chant stuff is quite recent.

I was (and frankly still am) absolutely blown away to learn that coral is an animal, not a plant.

Oh God loads....

I thought Pontious was pretentious, so Pontious Pilate was just an arrogant man called Pilate. I used to describe people as being 'pontious'.
Thought cows had to eat grass in order to produce milk, had no idea they had to have calves.
In primary school there was one mixed race family and the boy was in my class. He called himself a half caste, and I thought this was the proper term for mixed race. You can imagine everyone's horror when I moved to a very diverse university and used this term in the early 00. I want to die every time I think of this.
Again in primary school a boy in my class told me AD was an abbreviation for After Dinosaurs. Once we got to secondary school a teacher asked the class what AD meant, I answered proudly and I was given detention for being rude. I was so shocked to discover this wasn't true!
I worked with a girl once who thought every country had it's own moon/sun, so if you stood on the border of England/Scotland or wherever that you could see them both, side by side.

I found out at 25 that the world wasn’t in black and white back when photos were black and white